Impacts of Health Care Bill on Washington State

By Roger Stark, MD
Health Care Policy Analyst
January 2010

U.S. House and Senate Democrats have passed two sweeping 2,000 page bills that would fundamentally and dramatically change our health care. There are significant differences between the two bills, but the more moderate Senate bill has the best chance of passing through the conference committee and being signed by the President. Both bills passed on a strict party-line vote, with essentially no support from minority Republicans.

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Jay Inslee’s Copenhagen Junket Turns Heads

Washington’s 1st District Congressman, Jay Inslee, is said to have his eye on the Governor’s mansion. However, his recent attendance at the U.N. Climate Summit turned a few heads.  And here’s the punch line: it’s CBS News that’s blowing the whistle.

Inslee isn’t the only junket junky from Washington’s Democratic Congressional delegation.  3rd District Congressman Brian Baird (D-Vancouver), faced an outpouring of criticism after taking lavish trips to the Galapagos Islands and the South Pole, ostensibly to “study the oceans” and learn about climate change.  Baird, of course, shocked many observers by announcing his retirement late last year.

For his part, Inslee does have a book on climate change and renewable energy.  But why attend the Copenhagen summit? Everyone else was doing it!  Except, they weren’t.  According to CBS, Nancy Pelosi handpicked attendees.  Sure, Inslee could have  easily attended via teleconference (he can see Microsoft from his front yard!), but hey, who needs such new-fangled technology. Rewind back to August when the town hall shout downs were looming, and Inslee was all about phoning it in.

Yeah, yeah, carbon footprints and all that jazz.  3 military jets. Hundreds of hotel nights booked. But the real kicker is this: the Copehagen summit was by all accounts an abject failure.  Will the luxurious junket put a kink in Inslee’s gubernatorial aspirations?  With the current political climate, Inslee might do better to focus on simply getting re-elected to Congress. Something tells us Inslee’s Congressional travel tab might be front and center this fall.

Roberts Ad Slams Obama on Health Care

Our Boise correspondent, Branden, filed this update last week on Ken Roberts progress in the endorsement race for the 1st Congressional seat in Idaho.

Roberts came out swinging today with a clever ad using puzzle pieces falling into place to reveal ObamaCare as a “big government” solution.

No word yet on whether the ad will go up on TV, or is web-only.

Scientific Fact-Finding or Fleecing Taxpayers?

Congressman Brian Baird represents Washington State’s 3rd Congressional District, which along the I-5 corridor, runs basically from Olympia to Vancouver.

Normally one to keep a low profile, this week, Baird drew national attention. And not the kind of attention that a candidate running for re-election in times of financial hardship for taxpayers wants to have.

In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (“Congress’s Travel Tab Swells“), Baird made the cut for Congressman who took questionable trips on the taxpayer dime:

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Quote of the week

One of baseball’s all-time sluggers, Sammy Sosa, reportedly tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003.  Since that revelation WAS SO GROUNDBREAKING, I had to read the story at espn.com – and I ‘m so very happy I did. In the story, after Sosa’s infamous appearance before Congress in 2005 is detailed, former M’s manager Lou Piniella provided the following gem:

“In the era I played, [performance-enhancing drug use] wasn’t a problem.  I wouldn’t know a steroid from a reefer.”

Ahhhhh, Sweet Lou!